*Cosmopolitan publisher Hearst lays off 41 ‘talented’ staffers across magazines* San Francisco, July 21 (IANS) Hearst Magazines, which has publications like Cosmopolitan, Elle, Seventeen, Harper’s Bazaar and Men’s Health under its umbrella, has sacked 41 “talented” union staffers due to “company restructuring”. The employees impacted by the layoffs were “skilled writers, editors, and producers.” “This morning, we were notified that Hearst Magazines has laid off 41 of our unit members. Due to ‘company restructuring,’ we are losing talented people whose creativity and institutional knowledge is immeasurable,” Hearst Magazines Media Union said in a tweet on Friday. “These are immensely skilled writers, editors, and producers who collectively have decades of experience in journalism,” the union informed. The company said in a statement that as ”we continue to produce the highest-quality content across all platforms, we’re also making strategic decisions that position the business for long-term growth”. Employees of Hearst-owned magazines went on to social media to support laid-off colleagues. “Really hard day at Hearst Magazines today as we lost a bunch of talented coworkers as a result of ‘company restructuring.’ Just gutted at the way our industry is going this week especially,” tweeted Lizz Schumer, senior editor, Good Housekeeping magazine. Sam Olson, assistant editor at Seventeen magazine, posted: “Standing in solidarity with my Hearst colleagues who have been laid off today. I haven’t heard anything, but this goes to show that no one is safe”. The Hearst media union said that they are disappointed and angry that “Hearst unilaterally chose to lay off our members instead of coming to the table to explore alternative options”. “The union is reaching out to all affected members. We stand with our colleagues and will support them to the fullest possible extent. As always, when corporate machines chomp through our ligaments, we will take care of our own,” it posted on Twitter. Several prominent media houses have laid off employees in the current global slowdown. German media giant Axel Springer laid off 20 per cent of newsroom jobs and apparently replaced some employees with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Several media outlets like Vice News, Insider, ABC News, NPR, Vox Media, CNN and others have eliminated their workforce in recent months. –IANS na/
